Trump Erases Time

Since his term began in January of 2017, President Trump has worked to unravel his predecessors’ legislative efforts to lessen the effects of climate change.

In March, 2017, President Trump made an executive order, instructing the EPA to repeal the Clean Power Plan that was put into place under the Obama administration. The plan was designed to minimize human-triggered climate change by restricting CO2 emissions produced by the utility power workforce. Trump disagreed with the legislation and felt that “no single regulation threatens our miners, energy workers, and companies more than this crushing attack [the Clean Power Plan] on American industry.” In response to Trump, in October, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed the repeal of the Clean Power Plan, declaring that it “was premised on a novel and expansive view of Agency authority” and “ignored states’ concerns and eroded longstanding and important partnerships that are a necessary part of achieving positive environmental outcomes.” The Trump administration had undone years of progress on climate change. It had erased time.

But Trump didn’t stop there. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. entered the Paris Climate Accord in September, 2016. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the agreement “aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase.” Trump ignored this goal. And in June, 2017, Trump declared that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord as it harms the country’s jobs and doesn’t have much of an impact on global warming. The Accord “was adopted by nearly every nation in 2015,” showing that Trump doesn’t take climate change as seriously as other  nations–and he also isn’t afraid to stand out. Again, he had backtracked climate change. He had erased time.

Yes, President Trump has decided to exit agreements, abandon laws, and potentially loosen greenhouse gas emission regulations for automobiles. Yes, President Trump’s agenda has undone years of work. But he is also undermining the science itself: Trump’s most consequential attack on climate change. As of recently, federal agencies are no longer reporting the future impacts of global climate change until the end of the century. According to the New York Times, James Reilly, Trump’s appointee to direct the country’s Geological Survey, “has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project the impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.” Trump is attacking scientists. He has erased time and, now, is preventing future discoveries and progress.

If 178 other signatories couldn’t convince him, years of legislation couldn’t convince him, and years of science couldn’t convince him, it’s safe to say Trump may never change his mind on the reality of climate change. He is erasing time, and sadly, America will take the toll. It will have to rebuild itself.